BaselWorld 2013 First Impressions

Its hard to believe that press day at Baselworld 2013 is actually over. Since landing in Switzerland a little over 24 hours ago, we’ve been busy checking out all that Baselworld has to offer, including some serious fanfare and, of course, some outstanding watches.

The festivities kicked off the evening of the 23rd with the opening ceremony for Baselworld 2013, which featured the obligatory free wine and schnitzel (we are in Switzerland after all) and a fairly over-the-top Lana Del Rey concert. All this celebrating is for a good reason. As some of you may know, this is the first year that Baselworld will be held in the brand new Baselworld exhibition center which, after 5 years of planning, 3 years of construction and $430 million of construction costs, is bigger and better than ever before. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, known famously for designing the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the BaselWorld exhibition center is a beautiful structure with an undulating metal skin that stands out from the surrounding city.

Walking around the new exhibition center, you are immediately overwhelmed by the scale of the booths… “Booth” is actually a misleading term, these are remarkable temporary structures with elaborate facades, high-end furniture and some very clever attractions. Perhaps the coolest thing we’ve seen thus far was the Citizen booth, which featured faux walls created of a cloud of movement plates. From a far, they look like creatures floating in a void, which is emphasized through creepy ambient music. Then of course, are all of the watches on display in vitrines along the booth edges. Though we’ve only just begun, we’ve managed to get our hands on some great watches already. Namely, we got a look at the new offerings Frederique Constant and Alpina, which we’ll get into more deeply soon.

Check back on worn&wound in the coming days for more of Baselworld 2013, including hands-on coverage of some of your favorite brands, including Sinn, Hamilton, Stowa, Nomos and many others. And for those of you who aren’t already checking out our real-time coverage on twitter and instagram, you should!

This website uses cookies. By using and further navigating this website you agree that we use cookies in accordance with our cookie policy. Detailed information about the use of cookies on this website is available by visiting our Privacy Policy.